Alexander Gromov feels hungry, cold, and tired. He has been trudging behind Charles Snippy for several hours now, searching for food.
He hates those missions, just volunteered to go because he wanted to prove his usefulness to the group.
He watches how Snippy swiftly makes is way through the debris and bones on the abandoned streets, barely making a sound, while he stumbles along clumsily, the sound of his progress hearable for the whole wasteland. He bows his head down, like he is very interested in his boots. Silently, he swears about his lack of condition and training.
Snippy is not fond of making noise, because it attracts any kind of mutant or monster in the area to their presence immediately. At least, under these circumstances, it does not seem odd that Engie has barely said a word since they started the mission. In fact, Engie tries to talk to the sniper as few as possible, because every unnecessary word only increases the possibility that his identity will be discovered.
So far, he has managed to hide his identity from Snippy well, but as an intelligent person, he knows he can´t keep it up forever. When the truth finally will be revealed, he hopefully has become valuable enough to the group, especially Snippy, that he doesn´t get shot on the spot.
His train of thought suddenly is interrupted by a crashing sound in front of him. He looks up, only to see the sniper loose his balance and fall down the heap of debris he was standing on. Engie hears clattering, a yelp of pain, then nothing.
He starts running, scales the heap clumsily and too slowly for his liking. Snippy´s silence leaves room for a lot of dreadful images in Gromov´s head. When he finally reaches the top, he can see the sniper lying at the ground, motionless.
Swearing in Russian, Gromov climbs down, trying to avoid injuring himself in the process.
When he reaches the other man, he still doesn´t move, but at least he is breathing.
Gromov carefully removes Snippy´s goggles and hood, to get a better account of the sniper´s injuries. So far, Engie can see a nasty gash at his brow, where the goggles have transferred the impact into the underlying tissue. Even more worrying is the blood dripping onto the ground from the back of Snippy´s head. Engie carefully puts the sniper into a sitting position, leaning him against his shoulder while searching his coat pockets for a rag, to apply pressure to the wound.
"Don´t leave me hanging here, Charles...," he mutters, tapping Snippy´s face, hoping to wake him. He feels helpless, though he improved his medical skills since he joined the group. A useful ability, regarding one group member is a 5 year old trapped in a grown-up´s body and another a sniper cursed with bad luck.
His heart is racing fast with fear while he repeats the sniper´s name again and again.
Finally Snippy stirs. His eyelids flutter and he opens his eyes, staring at Engie hazily. "Thank god, Charles…" The engineer sighs in relief.
When he feels Snippy going stiff, he realizes his mistake. The sniper pushes Engie away, stands up shakily.
His expression suddenly is very fierce.
"What did you just say?"
"N-nothing," Engie stutters, instinctively stepping back from Snippy.
"Why do you know that name...? Are you...Put down your mask."
"With the toxic environment here, this is not a good idea..." Engie replies weakly.
"If you don´t take it off, you´ll have other things to worry about," the sniper replies coldly, taking the rifle from his back, aiming at Gromov.
Engie has no choice but to take his gear down. He never expected to feel so naked, so helpless without it. When he is done, he looks up fearfully, meeting the sniper´s gaze.
"Gromov..."
Snippy does not say anything else, just stares at him over the barrel of the rifle, the blue irises frozen over with hatred.
Engie closes his eyes, expecting the shot.
But it does not come, and when he opens them again, he sees the muzzle shifting, sees Snippy losing his balance again. Gromov steps forward, pushing the rifle aside. It hits the ground with loud clattering. Snippy sinks down into a kneeling position, trembling badly.
"Why…why YOU?... of all people who could have survived..."
Engie kneels down in front of Snippy, sees the hatred in his eyes turning into resignation.
He does not know what to say, feels ashamed for his existence.
Finally, he moves his hand and touches the gash upon the sniper´s brow lightly, making the other man flinch with pain. "This needs stitches." he says quietly. Snippy looks down, nodding slightly. "The other one too." Gromov points to the back of Snippy´s head.
Engie takes the first aid kit out of his backpack slowly, so the sniper can see what he is doing, and removes his gloves.
He starts with the head wound, hears Snippy sobbing quietly while he works.
The engineer suspects the sobbing is not caused by the stitches, the tears running down the sniper´s face not due to the toxic atmosphere. But he does not enquire further, knowing this would stretch his luck, let alone Snippy´s ability to cope with shitty situations.
"I´m sorry," he says, not specifying if he means the happenings before the apocalypse, or the clumsy stitches he applies to the sniper now.